Known World Service plays and series from 1980-1989, including those from Suttonelms' previous list plus various additions from all over. This can definitely be regarded as a work in progress!

1980s:

1980:

(21-06 to 20-09-1980) HAUNTED, SERIES 1: - Tales Of The Supernatural
(Various, dram Derek Hoddinott, except where noted) A BBC World Service series that included both classic and original ghost stories. (14 x 30m) (NB: Broadcast Saturdays; All info taken from a long-forgotten website, which may just refer to the author's own collection - eg. 'no credits given', etc)

1: Little Girl Lost (Rosemary Timperley)
With the recent death of her second husband, Mrs. Grove now stays with her son from her first marriage, Herbert, and his wife, Sally. Sally and Herbert think she has gone mad as she continually talks to her late second husband, John, so they've called in a doctor to take a look at her. But Janet, Herbert and Sally's daughter, believes that Mrs. Grove can talk to her late husband and wants to be able to hear his voice, too. Sally feels she is losing control over her daughter as she gets closer with Mrs. Grove and begs her husband to stop it. "Little Girl Lost" by Rosemary Timperley was first published in 'The Bumper Book of Ghost Stories' in 1975. With Jenny Lyndon (Sally Lake), John Carson (Herbert Lake), Ruth Dunning (Mrs. Grove), Bernadette Windsor (Janet Lake), and Adrian Eagan (Doctor Raven / John Grove).

2: What Was It? (Fitz-James O'Brien)
It is July 1854. Harry has just arrived No.28 Twenty-sixth Street, in New York City. It was built some fifteen or twenty years earlier by a well-known New York merchant, who five years earlier threw the commercial world into convulsions by a stupendous bank fraud. He escaped to Europe, and died not long after of a broken heart. Almost immediately after the news of his decease reached America, and was verified, the report spread in Twenty-sixth Street that No. 28 was haunted. Before it was turned into a boarding-house, the care taker and his wife, placed there by the house agent into whose hands it had passed for purposes of renting or sale, declared that they were troubled with unnatural noises. Doors were opened without any visible agency. The remnants of furniture scattered through the various rooms were, during the night, piled one upon the other by unknown hands. Invisible feet passed up and down the stairs in broad daylight, accompanied by the rustle of unseen silk dresses, and the gliding of viewless hands along the massive balusters. The care taker and his wife declared that they would live there no longer. The house remained untenanted for three years before Mrs. Moffat took over, turining it into a boarding-house. And after spending a month there, Harry was forced to acknowledge that nothing in the remotest degree approaching the supernatural had manifested itself until one night... What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien (31st December 1828 - 6th April 1862) was first published in "Harper's" in March 1859. It was the first well-shaped short story of a tangible but invisible being, and the prototype of de Maupassant's Horla. With Peter Marinker (Harry Crown), Blane Fairman (Doctor Stephen Hammond), and Helen Horton (Mrs. Moffatt).

3: The Family (John Elliot)
As solicitor David Eccleston arrives at his client's (Mr. Watson) lodgings, he is met by a Detective Sergeant who gives him a letter from Watson that he feels he should read before he sees him. The letter is about something peculiar that has happened to him. It concerns a young women by the name of Carol Temple that he met late one night around 1:00 a.m. in front of the boarding house where he lived. She had no home, no parents, no relations so he invited her up to his flat to get out of the cold and have something to eat. He allowed her to stay the night though with no plans to take advantage of the situation... but he did. She left the next day under friendly terms and he didn't see her for three months until, one day, he arrived home late from a job and there she was. She tells him that she is pregnant. Whether it is his child or not he wants her to stay - he will take care of her - but she protests telling him that he must first hear her story... With George Cole (Mr. Watson), Janet Maw (Carol Temple), Peter Baldwin (Detective Sergeant Forester), John Church (David Eccleston), Elizabeth Ryder (The Nurse), Jane Thompson (The Reception), and Graham Faulkner (The Policeman).

4: Walk On The Water (Rosemary Timperley)
One day, while making sandcastles on the beach as a young girl of about 8 or 9, Rachel meets a man who compliments her on her sandcastle but when her mother arrives, the man disappears. Later that day, she hears a story about something terrible happening to a man who went into the water for a swim. The next time Rachel sees this man is when she is 21-years-old and is engaged to be married to Peter. He appeared suddenly while she was on a platform waiting for a train saying only 'hello'. The appearances become more frequent to the point when, after her marriage, they are daily. Though all he ever says is 'hello', she starts to fall in love with this stranger as she becomes more and more detached from her husband. What does this man want from her and why won't he say more? 'Walk on the Water' by Rosemary Timperley was first published in "The Eighth Ghost Book" in 1972. With Anna Cropper (Rachel), Ursula Howells (Beatrice, Rachel's Mother), Jack May (Henry, Rachel's Father), David Ashford (Peter Bannister), Brian Hewlett (The Man), and Jean Rogers (Rachel as a Child). Other cast members were Brian Hayden, Trevor Cooper and Leonard Fenton. Rosemary Timperley (1920-1988), was the author of over sixty novels and numerous short stories. Timperley was born in London, England, and began her freelance writing career in 1960 after working as a school teacher and journalist.

5: The Dream Woman (Wilkie Collins)
While in a Inn, a doctor hears from the landlord about Isaac, an ostler, who has terrible dreams in which he tosses and turns, crying out in his sleep. He asks to see Isaac while he is sleeping to determine whether, if it is a problem with the brain, he could help. He and the landlord arrive at Isaac's room to find a restless man with a withered, woe-begone face. Isaac is talking in his sleep about a woman with "Light gray eyes and a droop in the left eyelid; flaxen hair, with a gold-yellow streak in it" who has a knife and is attempting to kill a man who is asleep - that man is Isaac. The landlord, knowing pretty well all about Isaac's past life, tells the doctor, little by little, the whole story of the extravagant and incredible events that have led to Isaac being in the state he is in. "The Dream Woman" was first published in 1855 (under the title "The Ostler"). aka "Brother Morgan's Story of the Dream Woman". With Charles Kay (Isaac Scatchard), Maureen O'Brien (Rebecca Murdoch), Richard Bird (The Doctor), Douglas Blackwell (Mr. Warren, the Landlord), and Katherine Parr (Mrs. Scatchard). Other cast members were David Timson and Danny Schiller

6: The Decoy (Algernon Blackwood)
"The Decoy" was first published in 1921 in the short story collection "The Wolves of God and Other Fey Stories" by Algernon Blackwood and Wilfred Wilson.

7: Listen To The Silence (Unknown)
Mary listens to the radio at night because she is afraid of the silence. A voice calls for her saying it's her grandfather. But both her grandfathers have been dead for years and this man doesn't sound like either. He tells her that she was adopted and tells her true background. He has been trying to reach her but she has never given him the silence, the deep, deep silence he needed until this evening. The reason he came was to first tell her who she is; second, to tell her stories that made up his life. All she needs to do is open up herself to the silence and he will come again. But as she does her expectations take an unexpected turn. No credits given in this dramatisation.

8: The Inexperienced Ghost (H G Wells)
You know how stuffy those English men's clubs are: "right sort of chap, and all that rot." Now imagine that the very worst sort of interloper forced his way into the exclusive club - a ghost who refuses to leave. And even worse, a ghost who was a failure in life and a failure in his haunting. 'The Inexperienced Ghost' was first published in 1943.

9: Christina (Daphne Castell)
Miss Chaucer tells Dr. Richard that she is so depressed - in part due to the recent death of a friend - she have tried to shake it off but with no luck. Since Mary's death she has can't seem to take the same pleasure in writing, especially children stories. Also, before Mary died she had lost a lot of money - mostly to oversea investments. She has no family to turn to for hope or advise. Mary would have helped her had she been well enough. To an extent, Mary was her family. She's is alone now. It is that fact that depresses and frightens her. Dr. Richard tells her that she has to get away. A fresh environment; a new locality; to get out of London; to find a new village somewhere and make new friends - find a new rythm for her life and then rethink her future. That is what she did and that is how she came to meet Mrs. Crozier, the housekeeper, and Christina, the ghost of a child who has come back to the house where she once lived. But why? First published in "Superhorror" (1976), a short story and novelette collection. No credits given in this dramatisation.

10: The Late Departure (Glen Chandler)
Peter Harrington is a 43-year-old workaholic who is over-weight, a smoker, and has high blood pressure. His business associates and wife keep telling him that he will drop dead one day if he doesn't completely change his lifestyle. One day, after another hectic day at work, he runs to the station to catch the 11:00 p.m. train home. As he sits in one of the compartments, time starts to drift past 11:00 p.m. with no train departure. Slowly, he starts to see that all those around him, railway emloyees and passengers, act strangely towards him as none are concerned about the late departure. Where is this train going and will he ever get home? No credits given in this dramatisation.

11: Esmeralda (John Keir Cross)
When Mr. Broome finally attempts to take charge of events with one momentous act, he strangles his wife and buries her in the basement of his tobacco shop. But then he is haunted by his fantasy daughter, Esmeralda, who seems to know all of his sordid little sexual secrets. Dramatised from the short story 'Esmeralda' which was first published in "The Other Passenger" (1944), a collection of strange short stories by John Keir Cross (1911 - 1967) aka Stephen MacFarlane. No credits given in this dramatisation.

12: A Pair Of Hands (Arthur Quiller-Couch)
More than causing goose pimples, this tender tale tugs at the heartstrings with its touching description of the antics of the "most harmless ghost in the world." The pair of hands that show up in the house rented by Miss Poulton belong to a girl Margaret, who had died of diptheria at the tender age of seven. Ever since, her little hands appear every now and then to dust and clean the house with an almost obsessive desire to keep it free of infection. So unobtrusive and gentle is the dead girlÆs presence that hers is the friendliest ghost. As Miss Poulton says of this sweet spirit: she "smoothed my pillow, touched and made my table comely, in summers lifted the heads of the flowers as I passed." The short story 'A Pair of Hands' by Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863 - 1944) was first published in 1898. No credits given in this dramatisation.

13: Keeping His Promise (Algernon Blackwood, dram Patricia Mays)
A sudden queer sensation of fear passed over himùa faintness and a shiver down the back. It went, however, almost as soon as it came, and he was just debating whether he would call aloud.to his invisible visitor, or slam the door and return to his books, when the cause of the disturbance turned the corner very slowly and came into view... This tale concerns a young man by the name of Jack Marriott who is a fourth year student at Edinburgh University. One night he is cramming for his finals when his friend, Ambrose Field, from a long time ago knocks on the door in a terrible state. His friend is close to starvation, and so Marriot feeds him and sets him to sleep. As his friend sleeps, Marriott discovers that nothing is quite as it seems with the situation. A promise that was made a long time ago seems to have come back to haunt him û literally. "Keeping His Promise" was first published in 1906 in Blackwood's short story collection, 'The Empty House: And Other Ghost Stories'. With Eric Deacon (Jack Marriott), Christopher Neame (Ambrose Field), David Griffin (Henry Green), Peter Tuddenham (Lord Field), and Narissa Knights (Lady Field). Other parts were played by Nigel Graham. Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) was born into a well-to-do Kentish family. His parents, converts to a Calvinistic sect, led an austere life, ill-suited to their dreamy and sensitive son. During adolescence, he became fascinated by hypnotism and the supernatural and, on leaving university, studied Hindu philosophy and occultism. Later, he was to draw on these beliefs and experiences in his writing.

14: Which One? (R Chetwynd-Hayes, dram Patricia Mayes)
The story takes place in 1940. Six men take their firefighting posts during the nightly air raids in London when a bomb strikes the building they are in. In the rubble all the men seem to have survived but the ventilation system is out and the hope is that they don't suffocate to death before they are dug out. As they start trying to dig themselves out they find a body. Who could it be? Could it be one of them? 'Which One?' by R. Chetwynd-Hayes (1919 - 2001) aka Angus Campbell was later published as a short story in 1981. With Reginald Marsh (Mr. Dreighton), Gerard Green (Mr. Hughes), Robert Glenister (Raymond), Adrian Egan (Harold Smithers/The Man), Nigel Graham (Mr. Jackson), and David Graham (Mr. Conway).

1981:

(30-05-1981) The Unexpected Guest (Agatha Christie, dram/dir Gordon House)
A foggy night...a lonely country house...and a woman with a gun in her hand quietly surveying the dead body of her husband. It looks like a straightforward case of murder. Or was it? As the ghosts of an old wrong begin to emerge from the past, the case begins to look anything but straightforward, and it is up to Sergeant Cadwallader and Inspector Thomas to discover the unexpected truth... With Jillie Meers, Alexander Johns, Diana Bishop, Elizabeth Lindsay, Margot Boyd, Anthony Hyde, Sion Probert, Michael Spice, Sean Arnold. (60m) (00-00-1981) Hurdles (John Pilkington) Directed by Penny Leicester. (45m) (NB: Repeat of 1980 Radio 4 play.)

(??-??-1981) A Fair Exchange (Grant Eustace)

1982:

HAUNTED, SERIES 2

(27.03.1982) 1- "Listen To The Silence" by R.Timperley, Gwen Watford & George Pravda
(03.04.1982) 2- "Christina" by Daphne Castell & W Lynn Farleigh
(10.04.1982) 3- "The Judge's House" by Bram Stoker
(17.04.1982) 4- "The Late Departure" by Glenn Chandler
(24.04.1982) 5- "The Inexperienced Ghost" by H.G. Wells
(01.05.1982) 6- "Esmeralda" by John Keir Cross
(08.05.1982) 7- "The Emissary" by Ray Bradbury
(15.05.1982) 8- "Legal Rites" by Isaac Asimov & James MacCreagh
(22.05.1982) 9- "Mists of Memory" by Rosemary Timperley
(29.05.1982) 10- "A Pair of Hands" by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch

(06 to 20-01-1982) The Riddle Of The Sands (Erskine Childers)
Three-part dramatisation. (3 x 45m)

(14-03-1982) Random Moments In A May Garden (James Saunders)
(Suttonelms:) A middle-aged couple have bought a country cottage and are given the remains of an old photograph by the Surveyor who found it under the lining paper inside of one of the cupboards. It was a piece of Victorian family portrait which now only shows two little girls, photographed in a garden. We learn what they were doing there; "Random Moments in a May Garden" is two stories occurring in parallel in the same house, and cutting between the two. The play is an elegant domestic study set within the deceptively simple framework of a middle-aged married couple giving a small dinner-party for their friends before their move. In the background, hauntingly, is an old photograph of another family group taken in a May garden, raising the question of transience versus permanence. The play also subtly explores Sophie's doubts on the degree of her own fulfilment. James Saunders's haunting radio play was subsequently performed both on the stage on 9th June 1977 at the Questors Theatre, Ealing (London, England)
and on television on 22nd May 1981 on BBC2 Playhouse. With Barbara Jefford (Sophie), Peter Jeffrey (David, Sophie's Husband), Julie Hallam (Anne), Helen Worth (Katie), Anthony Hall (The Photographer), Vernon Joyner (The Surveyor), Denys Hawthorne (Digby), Elizabeth Morgan (Ann), Hugh Dickson (Mark), and Ellen Sheean (Katherine). Produced by Richard Wortley. Reviews: "Beautiful to listen to, a meditation on growing up and the loss of hope, written in a kind of poetic naturalism . . . and acted with feeling and with clarity." (The Times) "Should have been entered for the Prix Italia but wasn't." (Richard Wortley) - Jim (60m) (NB: Originally broadcast 20-01-1974, and repeated on that channel 11-08-1979 and 10-08-1985.)

(09 to 23-12-1982) The Midwich Cuckoos (John Wyndham)
This three-part dramatisation of John Wyndham's disturbing science fiction tale, starring Charles Kay and Pauline Yates, was first broadcast by the BBC World Service in 1982. Kay and Yates play rural villagers who, after an unexplained event leads to 64 women becoming pregnant simultaneously, come to suspect that the resulting children may not be al that they appear. Bernard Westcott - Charles Kay, Alan Hughes - Gordon Delue, Angela Zellaby - Pauline Yates, Chief Constable - Ronald Baddiley, Dr Ferrelyn - Jennie Quayle, Gordon Zellaby - Manning Wilson, Janet Gayford - Rosalind Adams Richard Gayford - William Gaunt Vicar Leebody - William Ingram, Willers - Hugh Dickson. (NB: Repeated on BBC7, and available on BBC CD.)

1983:

(00-00-1983) Just Between Ourselves (Alan Ayckbourn, adap Richard Wigmore)
With Peter Vaughan, Jennifer Piercy, Nigel Anthony, Frances Jeater and Hilda Kriseman. A bittersweet comedy about love, relationships and marriage. The story lifts the covers off suburbia to reveal the seething tensions beneath. Dennis spends his spare time pottering in the garage, oblivious to the fact that he has absolutely no mechanical or DIY skills. He is equally unaware that his wife, Vera, is being driven to distraction by his possessive mother. Quote from director Gordon House (from elsewhere on Suttonelms): "I've lost count of the number of Alan Ayckbourn's plays I've produced on radio, but one of the first I ever worked on was "Just Between Ourselves", a play where each scene takes place on the birthday of one of its five central characters. This is a play in which a man literally drives his wife mad. The scene in which this deeply depressed woman begs for help and he, quite incapable of understanding what she is talking about, asks her to draw up a list of household jobs to be done, is one of the bleakest scenes in the history of English Theatre. Just Between Ourselves is a great play, but shorn of the comforting laughter a theatre audience produces, it beggars belief to call it a comedy, particularly on radio." (90m) (NB: Repeated in Radio 4's Afternoon Theatre slot, 12-02-1984, and on BBC7, 19-06-2004, introduced by the director.)

(00-00-1983) Digging Up Trouble (Grant Eustace)

(00-00-1983) Just Between Ourselves (Alan Ayckbourn)

(31-07-1983) Foreign Exchange (Ellen Fox)
A Canadian girl decides to spend part of her pre-University year in England, away from the influence of her mother. She finds lodgings and a boyfriend, and they explore the sights of London together. But it's not long before she discovers traits in his behaviour which she does not like. Patricia Hayes turns in a good performance as the eccentric landlady, Mrs. Cuthbert. The cast: Alice - Lisa Ross, Bill - Stephen Pacey, Mrs. Cuthbert - Pat Hayes, Mrs. Bridges - Hilda Fennimore, Alice's mother - Margaret Robertson. Other cast members: James Bryce, Stuart Organ, Harry Stamper, Jean Trend. 55m, World Service, producer Dickon Reed. Recorded by Keith Marston.

(25-11-1983)The Tightrope Men (Desmond Bagley)
5 45m eps. starting 25 Nov 83

1984:

(00-00-1984) Royal Necklace (Neville Teller)
With Dorothy Tutin as Queen Victoria. (60m)

HAUNTED, SERIES 3
(22.07.1984) 1- "The Lamp" by Agatha Christie
(29.07.1984) 2- "Channel Crossing" by Rosemary Timperley
(05.08.1984) 3- "The Liberated Tiger" by R. Chetwynd-Hayes
(12.08.1984) 4- "The Dead Man of Varley Grange" (author unkown)
(19.08.1984) 5- "The Strange Children" by Elizabeth S. Holding
(26.08.1984) 6- "The Grey Ones" by J.B. Priestley
(02.09.1984) 7- "Only Child" by Frances Stephens
(09.09.1984) 8- "Which One?" by R. Chetwynd-Hayes
(16.09.1984) 9- "Keeping His Promise" by Algernon Blackwood
(23.09.1984) 10- "The Firmin Child" by Richard Blum

1985:

(20-10 to 24-11-1985) Raffles - Series 1 (E W Hornung, adap David Buck)
A BBC Radio 4/BBC World Service co-production. Starring Jeremy Clyde as A. J. Raffles and Michael Cochrane as Bunny Manders. With Henry Stamper as Inspector MacKenzie and Ron Pember as Crawshay. Theme music by Jim Parker. Directed by Gordon House. (6 x 30m) (NB: Transmission dates may be those for Radio 4.)

1: The Ides Of March
- Bunny is desperately in need of some ready cash to repay a gambling debt. His old schoolfellow, the celebrated English cricketer A. J. Raffles, knows just the person to help a fellow out. He's a jeweller in Bond Street - and funnily enough, Raffles had planned to pay him a surprise visit that very night...

2: Gentlemen & Players
- When Raffles and Bunny are engaged for cricketing weeks at country estates, the playing of cricket can hardly be said to be their chief preoccupation. Bunny is an incorrigible ladies man, while Raffles takes an understandable professional interest in his fellow guests' portable property.

3: A Costume Piece
- Reuben Rosenthall has made his millions in the diamond fields of South Africa, and it seems only right and proper to Raffles that some of this wealth should be redistributed. But Raffles's attempts to seize the Rosenthall diamonds do not you might say - quite go according to plan. Reuben Rosenthall - Geoffrey Matthews.

4: Nine Points Of Law
- An advertisement in a daily paper offers £2,000 reward for anyone qualified to undertake a `delicate mission' and prepared to run a certain risk. This proves more than sufficient bait for those intrepid risk-takers Raffles and Bunny - even though the mission turns out to bee not entirely legal... Craggs - David Graham, Addenbrooke - David Buck.

5: Wilful Murder Or The Return Match
- Such is the nature of Raffles professional life that he is often required to work at night. So it is no surprise to Bunny when Raffles announces he has plans for the evening ahead. The surprise - and the horror - comes when Raffles calmly declares he is planning to commit murder...

6: The Chest Of Silver
- With Inspector MacKenzie's suspicions about Raffles professional life growing, A. J. decides the time has now come to visit Scotland. But Bunny is not to go with him: he has the responsibility of guarding Raffles illegally acquired silver plate.

(00-00-1985) Second Holmes (Grant Eustace)
Series of colourful Sherlock Holmes-type adventures involving latter-day descendants of Holmes and Watson.

1986:

(21-01-1986) For King and Country.
BBC WS Play of the Week 21.01.1986. (John Wilson). With David Threlfall and David Timson. Adapted for radio by Geoffrey Siegel. BBC World Service Drama production, directed by Gordon House. ....note by Alistair Wyper

(08-02-1986) The Living Room (Graham Greene)
London in the 1950's. A mysterious house, home to a family that has seen better days, will not yield its secrets. And a love affair turns to tragedy. Greene, one of the foremost writers of the 20th Century, based the play on his own passionate but doomed affairs, and his conflicted view of Catholicism.

(14-09-1986) All My Sons (Arthur Miller)
The play is based upon a true story, which Miller's then mother-in-law pointed out in an Ohio newspaper. The story described how a woman informed on her father who had sold faulty parts to the U.S. military during World War II. Joe Keller - Harry Towb, Kate Keller - Constance Cummings, Chris Keller - Garrick Hagon, Ann Deever - Beth Porter, Frank Lubey - Brian Hewlett, Dr Jim Bayliss - John Church, Sue Bayliss - Carole Boyd, Lydia Lubey - Maggie McCarthy, Bert - Adrian Meyers, George Deever - Tom Hunsinger. Produced by Martin Jenkins. (90m) (NB: The broadcast date may be that of the original Radio 4 airing.)

(00-00-1986) Jesus (Unknown)
With Paul Copley as Jesus, directed by Geoff Marshall Taylor for Radio 4/World Service. (NB: Scant info from Copley's website.)

(00-00-1986) Sherlock Holmes - The Valley Of Fear (Arthur Conan Doyle, dram Roy Apps)
A full-cast dramatisation, starring Tim Pigott-Smith as Sherlock Holmes & Andrew Hilton as Dr John H Watson. A story that takes us from Sussex to Vermissa valley USA. The story of two detectives, one woman (to Holmes' dismay) and villainy there Moriarty's influence lurks in the background. Sherlock Holmes - Tim Pigott-Smith, Dr John H Watson - Andrew Hilton, Douglas - James Aubrey, McGinty - Lee Montague, Inspector MacDonald - Bob Doucherty, Mrs Hudson - Val Lorraine, White-Mason - Edward de Souza, Constable - Jared Morgan, Barker & Marvin - Trevor Nichols, Mrs Douglas - Natasha Pyne, Baldwin - Andrew Branch, Morris - Ronald Herdman, Ettie - Adeen Fogle, Shafter - John Church, Other parts Tom Karol, Ronald Herdman and Jared Morgan. Directed by Brian Miller. (NB: A repeat Radio 4's SNT, 24-05-1986 / Afternoon Play, 26-12-1986; One of many plays wiped by the BBC and returned by listeners.)

1987:

(18-10-87) The Visit (Friedrich Durrenmatt, trans Maurice Valency, adap Gordon House)
From the 1956 play, with Sian Philips and Joss Ackland, directed by Gordon House. A BBC World Service/Radio 4 simulcast. An elderly millionairess returns to her home town after many years. On the promise of her millions,shw turns what has been a depressed area into a boom town. But there is a condition attached. Music by Bernard Graham Shaw and performed by Tony McVey, Peter Washtell, Ben Grove, and Bernard Graham Shaw. (90m) (NB: Repeated 23-07-1989.)

(00-00-1987) Guys & Dolls (Damon Runyon, dram Walter Hall)
Starring Stubby Kaye as Nicely-Nicely Jones and Bob Sherman as the story teller. A series of six shows brought to the air by the BBC World Service, all based on short stories by Damon Runyon and directed by David Hitchison. Following the pattern of the original short stories, an unnamed storyteller, played by Bob Sherman for the full series, would tell story, leading into the dramatization. As in the originals, the series utilized the audio art of dialect humor. The fact that it was produced in the United Kingdom might make one wonder how well it could be carried out. Have no fear, it's well done and is an enjoyable listen. Actual dates of broadcast are unknown at this time.

1: Romance On Broadway
(With Katherine Stauss as Miss Billy)

2: Lonely Hearts
(With Stubby Kay as Nicely Nicely)

3: Palm Beach Santa Claus
(With Stubby Kay as Nicely Nicely)

4: Broadway Incident
(With Sandra Dickenson as Miss Bumpy News)

5: A Piece Of Pie
(With Stubby Kay as Nicely Nicely)

6: So You Won't Talk
(With Don Fellows as Ambrose)

(00-00-1987) A View from the Mountain (Don Haworth)

(00-00-1987) The Colour of Cummer (Colin MacDonald)

1988:

(01-06 to 06-07-1988) Raffles - Series 2 (E W Hornung, adap David Buck)
A BBC Radio 4/BBC World Service co-production. Starring Jeremy Clyde as A. J. Raffles and Michael Cochrane as Bunny Manders. With Henry Stamper as Inspector MacKenzie. Theme music by Jim Parker. Directed by Gordon House. (6 x 30m) (NB: Transmission dates are those for Radio 4.)

1: The Rest Cure
- Bunny is surprised and pleased to be invited by Raffles to share the latter's self imposed `rest cure' in a large house in Kensington. But Raffles, needless to say, has his own somewhat nefarious reasons for wanting to take a holiday... Colonel Crutchley - Christopher Benjamin.

2: The Criminologists Club
- Bunny is appalled to learn that the Criminologists Club has invited Raffles and Bunny to dinner. But Raffles see the opportunity to have a little fun... Lord Thornaby played by David March; Kingsmill - Michael Tudor Barnes, Parrington - Blain Fairman, Ernest - Simon Hewitt, Leggett - Norman Bird.

3: The Field Of Philippi
- When Raffles and Bunny make a nostalgic return to their school they run across an old enemy, `Soapy' Sudborough, who, with his father owns the local bank. Raffles, like Caesar at the field of Philippi, is not one to leave old scores unsettled. Sudborough - Bernard Brown.

4: A Bad Night
- Raffles's plans to avenge a friend by robbing a private house at Hampton Court are thwarted by a prior engagement at Old Trafford, to play in the second test match against Australia. Bunny, however, nobly steps into the breach.... Medlicott - Anton Lesser.

5: A Trap To Catch A Cracksman
- When an American pugilist boasts that he has invented a trap to catch the cleverest cracksman alive, he is issuing a challenge that Raffles, for one is unable to resist.... with disastrous consequences. Maguire - Alan Tilvern.

6: The Gift Of The Emperor
- Raffles plans the most daring enterprise of his career - the theft of a jewel worth £100,000. But Inspector MacKenzie is hot on Raffles's trail, and our intrepid cracksman's luck finally runs out. Von Heumann - Frederick Jaeger. Miss Werner - Zelah Clarke.

(00-00-1988) Peter Pan (J M Barrie, adap Michelene Wandor)
(60m) (NB: Not to be confused with the Radio 4 12-1995 serial with Roy Hudd, June Whitfield and Toyah Wilcox in the title role!)

(00-00-1988) After Agincourt (Peter Mottley)
A full write-up of this outstanding production is on the Peter Mottley page.

(00-00-1988) Peter Pan (J.M.Barrie, dram. Michelene Wandor)

1989:

(07-01-1989; 19:00) The Tempest, Pt1 (William Shakespeare)
Radio adaptation of Shakespeare's play in a two-part production directed by Walter Acosta. This is the first production of the play on the World Service. With John Gielgud as Prospero and Karen Ascoe as Miranda, Sam Dastor - Ariel, Bernard Hepton - Caliban, Mark Straker - Ferdinand, David March - Alonso, Douglas Blakewell - Stephano, John Hollis - Antonio, John Rye - Sebastian, Nigel Graham - Gonzalo, Norman Bird - Boatswain/Adrian, Paul Sirr - Francisco/Mariner, Timothy Bateson - Trinculo. Music specially composed and performed by Bernard Shaw. (NB: Walter Acosta talks about his experience of directing John Gielgud for this production in 'Good Morning John ...', London Calling, Jan 1989.)

(14-01-1989; 19:00) The Tempest, Pt2 (William Shakespeare)
See above.

(19-03-1989) Nightmare World (Wally K Daly)
A world-wide power failure brings chaos and terror to earth, and a curious transformation. Garry Henderson - James Laurenson, Jenkins - Nigel Anthony, A P Smith - Peter Jeffrey, PM - Geoffrey Whitehead, Colonel - Nicholas Courtney, Kate - Melinda Walker. Directed by David Hitchinson. (60m)

(23-07-1989) The Visit (Friedrich Durrenmatt)

(06-08-1989) Truckin' Maggie (Diane Ney)
An American truck driver and an English historian are engaged to drive around America, exhibiting a copy of the Magna Carta with the intention of stimulating interest in the history of the UK. The two men make an unlikely pair; and very soon tensions begin to surface.Nigel: Anton Lesser, Hank: Bill Bailey, Edmund: Michael Hordern, Tom: Blain Fairman, Carolyn: Liza Ross, Millie: Eleanore Fairman, Jimmy and the politician: William Roberts. Produced by Gordon House. (.....Greg Linden)

(00-00-1989) Separation (Tom Kempinski, adap Michelene Wandor)
Middle aged and over weight British playwright Joe Green hasn’t been able to write since the premiere of his play about a woman faced with a lifetime in a wheelchair; a play not unlike the author’s Duet for One. A young American actress who is suffering the debilitating effects of the illness that plagues the character in Joe’s play wishes to procure the rights to perform in it Off Broadway. A trans Atlantic telephone romance develops which shatters when Sarah finally meets Joe and realizes he is not the man of her dreams, but a mass of unkindness and self loathing. “An odd couple romance” (Punch), “Tender, heartbreaking” (London Sunday Express) (60m)

(00-00-1989) Garden Notes (David McKail, aka Frederick Mohr)
Programme about the opera singer, Mary Garden, interviewed in her home.

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